The Alex Rodriguez Sweepstakes started yesterday and there was no mad Mets dash to sign A-Rod on Day 1. In fact, GM Steve Phillips headed into the weekend with no scheduled appointment with Rodriguez or his agent, Scott Boras.

The Mets don’t even have a plan in place yet on what exactly they are going to do when A-Rod does arrive. These aren’t causes for concern because the Mets will setup a meeting with Boras and they will likely be ready when he arrives.

“We haven’t had a sitdown to be able to do that,” said Phillips of the plan for A-Rod’s trek to Flushing. “He’s not coming this week.”

While Phillips, who worked from his Connecticut home yesterday, seemed to think the Knicks free-agent treatment, featuring Jerry Seinfeld and other celebrity fans, was a bit of a longshot, co-owners Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday seem more likely to be on board when A-Rod arrives.

“They’d do it if I asked them to,” Phillips said. “It’s still premature to talk about that stuff. There is no scheduled meetings at this point.”

Bobby Valentine said he had “no idea” if he would be involved in wooing A-Rod.

So yesterday was the start of the sweepstakes, which Boras soon plans to narrow down from 16 teams to eight. The leading contenders appear to be the Mets, Braves, White Sox, Mariners and Dodgers. Boras also said he expected to receive an offer yesterday shortly after midnight from a team, but Yankees GM Brian Cashman put this type of move into its proper perspective.

“That would be more PR stuff than anything else,” Cashman said.

Boras wants A-Rod to be treated like the Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods of baseball. The agent, or more specifically A-Rod, might want to be careful not to appear greedy, though.

Nobody is questioning the 25-year-old’s ability, but there is a feeling among some that 10 years at $200-plus million, plus all kinds of out clauses, might be a bit much. It might leave the Mets with no money to pitch to others.

A concern because it is not just A-Rod who is eligible to start talking money with other teams as of yesterday, Mike Hampton can as well. Although things were quiet on the Hampton front as his agent, Mark Rodgers, planned to speak with the lefty this week after the pitcher returns from Bora Bora and then begin negotiations.

The Mets’ other free agents are Rick Reed, John Franco, Turk Wendell, the righty Bobby Jones, Derek Bell, Mike Bordick and Kurt Abbott. Reed is expected to receive an offer from the Rockies early this week.

The Phillies and Red Sox are two of the teams interested in Franco and Wendell’s agent was contacted by Cashman as a possible replacement for Jeff Nelson.

Met negotiations are on-going with Reed, Franco and Wendell. Jones could still be brought back, but no offers have been made. Abbott is a possibility, but it would be absolutely shocking if Bell or Bordick were on the 2001 Mets.

Is all teams having a shot at these players a concern for Phillips? “Not at all,” said Phillips. “Those that are progressing we hope to continue to progress and those that aren’t will keep in touch and move on to other considerations, or, at least, balance other considerations.”

There are dominoes waiting to be knocked down and nobody at this point, not even Phillips, knows which way they are going to land.

“I think it is clear that the trade discussions are going to be slower this year,” said Phillips.

The Mets must consider that as although everyone knows they are going to involved in A-Rod Sweepstakes, they do have a shortstop with three years left of a $19 million four-year contract.